Media Relations

This week's readings bring two main points to my attention.

Firstly, there are only certain things that journalists find interesting and a public relations officer has to understand this.

Secondly, in order to be a successful PR practitioner, establishing good ties with journalists and editors is essential.

Public relations practice is evident in today's media society. In order to gain exposure for a client or organization, some aspects of media will have to be used. Media relations is in fact a two-way relationship that public relations practitioners have to adopt with the media. 

The main objective of a PR person is to make their product or organization interesting to the readers or viewers. So, using different approaches and interpretations with the materials presented is a practice we must become familiar with. It is often the case that the client would want their product showcased to different classes of people. There would be more than one set of target audience. PR practitioners must be able to work with their materials and make them attractive to all these different people. 

In essence, we must be creative and flexible.

The approaches PR practitioners use must also aim to interest journalists as well as the audience. Journalists will only use your information if it relates to their column. Because you can never be sure your product will be featured the way you want it (if at all), your best bet would be to be on good terms with these journalists to ensure that your ideas will see some headlines in the papers/magazines.

These ideas have made me understand that if I aspire to become a PR professional, I must understand the needs of the journalists and respond accordingly. Flexibility with my clients products is essential if I want to see a sales increase. 

To ensure my organization or client gets the attention they want, I need to work with the people who can provide that. Trust between the media and the PR office is necessary. These two ideas, the approach and the relationship building are indeed public relationship strategies that have to be adopted.

 

Strategy, planning and scheduling

This week's reading has shown me two things:

The first, public relations strategy and planning is vital for effective management of organizations.

The second, in order to be an efficient and useful PR practitioner in a company, you have to be proactive and organized.

To make an organization successful, it must have a direction and a goal to push itself forward. Initially, I believed that the vision and mission statements of a company are formulated by the CEO and upper managerial positions. I never knew or even linked the role of a PR representative within these areas. So, today I learnt that communication programs conducted by the PR department are involved in supporting the organizations strategy and plan to reach their goal. How? Action plans and tools like annual newsletters and conferences are used to maintain direction and focus within the company.

The readings made me think about the role of PR personnel at a more managerial level instead of the 'technical' level.

I really enjoyed reading the study done by the IABC on the PR department. I think that PR practices in Singapore is considered unimportant and more of a luxury than a necessity. It surprised me to read about PR being a highly valued asset in an organization and the idea that communication excellence was determined by strategic manager expertise.

This new relevance given to PR practitioners in organizations has also brought something else to light. In order to be part of strategic planning, an understanding of business is necessary. So, all of you interested in pursuing public relations as a career, expand your knowledge! 

A public relations strategic plan involves so many components and questions to address. A proper plan can never be formulated or be effective if its not organized. Information like the time frames, possible problems that could arise, solutions to those problems, checklists and charts, budget and many other things all aim to ensure that mistakes will not be made and the organization is always prepared if a situation arises. 

This really made me think about how important it is to look ahead and anticipate what the company will face in the future. Having a plan B is really important and this can only be achieved through strategic planning, organization and proactivity that can be controlled by the PR practitioners.

Plan plan plan......

Public relations and theory

I think there are several important points to take home from the week’s readings.

Firstly, there has always been the belief that all media will conduct themselves in a socially responsible fashion. Meaning, the information they provide to their audience is true and not influenced or prejudiced. Thus. Public relation representatives involved in media are also expected to have a strong sense of social responsibility.

Secondly, with the division of the mediums where the audience or consumers receive their messages, the industry of PR has steadily strengthened. With this growth, many theories have been connected and developed to the field of PR to allow people to study and specialize in it.

Like many other areas of study, theories for public relations practice have steadily emerged hand in hand with its popularity and necessity. Today, many different theories have arisen to guide PR practitioners.

While different theories could be of better use in different situations, I do think that Grunig’s 4th model, the two-way symmetric is the most effective form of public relations practice. It uses research based on the public view together with the organizations vision to develop strategies to achieve their goal. I also believe that the symmetrical models would definitely turn out more successful as they lean towards organizational effectiveness. That is, to improve the understanding between the public and the organization.

The readings made me think more about the theories and practices of public relations in the way that separates the common misunderstanding (that I also had) of the relationship between Public relations and advertising/marketing. I believed that PR organizations were simply devoted to gaining profit through the advertising of their product. However, PR practice involves many roles besides gaining profit like crisis management and public diplomacy. So, profit focus is not the main or only objective of PR.

In addition, now that the PR industry has developed and strengthened, they require graduates that are not just trained in the areas of publicity and ethical practice (although they are necessary in the foundations of this field) but are also up to date with current affairs and social, political and economical issues. This is something I must keep in mind and apply to my current studies.

I have also found myself believing that the study of public relations was always related or ‘under’ the broad subject and theories of communication studies. I was surprised to find that it had amassed its own theories. Grunig’s 4 models remind me that Public relations is all about the mutual understanding between the public and the organization. So, when I step out into the dreaded working world, I will remember the symmetrical models of PR because they are the most socially responsible. Why? Because they avoid conflict between the public and the organization.

After all, it is all about trust and understanding.